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Key Vote NO on "Fiscal Cliff" Tax and Spending Hikes

As one of our millions of FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your state’s two U.S. Senators and urge them to vote against the McConnell-Obama bill to raise taxes and postpone the promised sequester savings.

While legislative language is not yet available--Senators are apparently being asked once again to vote on a bill no one has had a chance to read--press reports from late this afternoon suggest that the legislation falls short in at least three ways: 1) It fails to extend current income tax rates for individuals earning more than $400,000 a year, thus embracing President Obama’s cynical “soak the rich” politics, which punishes success and divides Americans against one another, without producing any significant revenue. 2) It once again kicks the can down the road on any meaningful spending reductions, by postponing $1.2 trillion in promised savings required under the Budget Control Act of 2011, in effect repealing those savings and cynically letting the government go on piling a mountain of debt on our children and grandchildren. 3) It increases federal spending on luxuries we can’t afford, like an extension of already over-extended unemployment benefits and various “stimulus” (i.e., special interest) tax breaks.

In the course of negotiating this bad bill with a lame-duck Congress, President Obama made clear that his position is to condition agreement to any spending reductions on additional tax hikes in at least a 1:1 ratio. This is outrageous. Washington has an over-spending problem, not an under-taxing problem. Raising taxes is not the way to get America out of our deep fiscal mire. Instead, we should be focusing on fixing our labyrinthine tax code and reforming our out-of-control spending and our unsustainable entitlements. Only by making these real, substantial reforms will we be able to get our fiscal house in order and avoid another damaging debt downgrade.

There is a better way to avoid the fiscal cliff. FreedomWorks has been urging Congress to keep its promise of $1.2 trillion in ten-year sequester savings, extend all current tax rates for one year, and get to work in 2013 on reforming taxes and entitlements.

As a matter of principle, we will never again support a back room deal that the American people have not been given ample chance to examine. Both parties promise full transparency but act in secret when no one is paying attention.

We will never fix our fiscal problems, shrink the national debt burden, reform the tax code, modernize our broken entitlements, and balance the budget until Congress and the President commit to return to regular order. Pass a budget resolution by April 15th, as required by law. Propose legislation through the open legislative process. Pass the appropriations bills, without special interest earmarks, in the light of day. Reconcile all of this by October 1st, the beginning of the new fiscal year. Stop kicking the can down the road. That is our New Year’s Wish. Anything less cheats the American People of what they have every right to expect from the political class.

I urge you to call your state’s two U.S. Senators and ask them to vote NO on the McConnell-Obama bill to raise taxes and postpone the promised sequester savings. We will count any vote on this proposal as a KEY VOTE when calculating the FreedomWorks Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2012. The Economic Freedom Scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes members of Congress with voting records that support economic freedom.

This is just kicking the can 60 days down the road. Let us hope the new Congress will push for a balanced budget amendment. I would also like to see statutory limits on elder welfare (SS + Medicare) as a percent of GDP. If old folks want a fat retirement, they should work to make following generations prosperous.

FreedomWorks Foundation expects to hear President Barack Obama announce more federal rules and regulations when he delivers his final State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday evening. Ahead of the address, FreedomWorks Foundation Chief Economist Wayne Brough commented on President Obama’s shocking expansion of executive power and reiterated our plans to mobilize against harmful rules and regulations in 2016.

Ahead of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress, FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon reflected on Barack Obama’s divisive presidency and described the agenda congressional Republicans should pursue in the coming months.

Speaking to the liberal Republican Main Street Partnership last week, Speaker John Boehner’s chief of staff, Mike Sommers, named the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank as one of the main priorities for the House of Representatives in October. Sommers also praised the liberal GOP group, while making a subtle dig at principled conservatives who believe Republicans should govern by the limited government values on which they campaign.